The Travels of Marco Polo, by Marco Polo

Chapter ii.

Concerning the Revolt of Nayan, who was Uncle to the Great Kaan Cublay.

Now this Cublay Kaan is of the right Imperial lineage, being descended from Chinghis Kaan, the first sovereign of
all the Tartars. And he is the sixth Lord in that succession, as I have already told you in this book. He came to the
throne in the year of Christ, 1256, and the Empire fell to him because of his ability and valour and great worth, as
was right and reason.1 His brothers, indeed, and other kinsmen disputed his claim, but his it remained, both
because maintained by his great valour, and because it was in law and right his, as being directly sprung of the
imperial line.

Up to the year of Christ now running, to wit 1298, he hath reigned two-and-forty years, and his age is about
eighty-five, so that he must have been about forty-three years of age when he first came to the throne.2
Before that time he had often been to the wars, and had shown himself a gallant soldier and an excellent captain. But
after coming to the throne he never went to the wars in person save once.3 This befel in the year of Christ,
1286, and I will tell you why he went.

There was a great Tartar Chief, whose name was NAYAN,4 a young man [of thirty], Lord over many lands and
many provinces; and he was Uncle to the Emperor Cublay Kaan of whom we are speaking. And when he found himself in
authority this Nayan waxed proud in the insolence of his youth and his great power; for indeed he could bring into the
field 300,000 horsemen, though all the time he was liegeman to his nephew, the Great Kaan Cublay, as was right and
reason. Seeing then what great power he had, he took it into his head that he would be the Great Kaan’s vassal no
longer; nay more, he would fain wrest his empire from him if he could. So this Nayan sent envoys to another Tartar
Prince called CAIDU, also a great and potent Lord, who was a kinsman of his, and who was a nephew of the Great Kaan and
his lawful liegeman also, though he was in rebellion and at bitter enmity with his sovereign Lord and Uncle. Now the
message that Nayan sent was this: That he himself was making ready to march against the Great Kaan with all his forces
(which were great), and he begged Caidu to do likewise from his side, so that by attacking Cublay on two sides at once
with such great forces they would be able to wrest his dominion from him.

And when Caidu heard the message of Nayan, he was right glad thereat, and thought the time was come at last to gain
his object. So he sent back answer that he would do as requested; and got ready his host, which mustered a good hundred
thousand horsemen.

Now let us go back to the Great Kaan, who had news of all this plot.

NOTE 1. — There is no doubt that Kúblái was proclaimed Kaan in 1260 (4th month), his brother Mangku Kaan having
perished during the seige of Hochau in Ssechwan in August of the preceding year. But Kúblái had come into Cathay some
years before as his brother’s Lieutenant.

He was the fifth, not sixth, Supreme Kaan, as we have already noticed. (Bk. I. ch. li. note 2.)

NOTE 2. — Kúblái was born in the eighth month of the year corresponding to 1216, and had he lived to 1298 would have
been eighty-two years old. [According to Dr. E. Bretschneider (Peking, 30), quoting the Yuen–Shi,
Kúblái died at Khanbaligh, in the Tze-t’an tien in February, 1294. — H. C.] But by Mahomedan reckoning he would have
been close upon eighty-five. He was the fourth son of Tuli, who was the youngest of Chinghiz’s four sons by his
favourite wife Burté Fujin. (See De Mailla, IX. 255, etc.)

NOTE 3. — This is not literally true; for soon after his accession (in 1261) Kúblái led an army against his brother
and rival Arikbuga, and defeated him. And again in his old age, if we credit the Chinese annalist, in 1289, when his
grandson Kanmala (or Kambala) was beaten on the northern frontier by Kaidu, Kúblái took the field himself, though on
his approach the rebels disappeared.

Kúblái and his brother Hulaku, young as they were, commenced their military career on Chinghiz’s last expedition
(1226–1227). His most notable campaign was the conquest of Yunnan in 1253–1254. (De Mailla, IX. 298, 441.)

NOTE 4. — NAYAN was no “uncle” of Kúblái’s, but a cousin in a junior generation. For Kúblái was the grandson of
Chinghiz, and Nayan was the great-great-grandson of Chinghiz’s brother Uchegin, called in the Chinese annals Pilgutai.
[Belgutai was Chinghiz’s step-brother. (Palladius.)— H. C.] On this brother, the great-uncle of Kúblái, and
the commander of the latter’s forces against Arikbuga in the beginning of the reign, both Chinghiz and Kúblái had
bestowed large territories in Eastern Tartary towards the frontier of Corea, and north of Liaotong towards the Manchu
country. [“The situation and limits of his appanage are not clearly defined in history. According to Belgutai’s
biography, it was between the Onon and Kerulen (Yuen shi), and according to Shin Yao’s researches (Lo fung
low wen kao), at the confluence of the Argun and Shilka. Finally, according to Harabadur’s biography, it was
situated in Abalahu, which geographically and etymologically corresponds to modern Butkha (Yuen shi); Abalahu,
as Kúblái himself said, was rich in fish; indeed, after the suppression of Nayan’s rebellion, the governor of that
country used to send to the Peking Court fishes weighing up to a thousand Chinese pounds (kin.). It was
evidently a country near the Amur River.” (Palladius, l.c. 31.)— H. C.] Nayan had added to his inherited
territory, and become very powerful. [“History has apparently connected Nayan’s appanage with that of Hatan (a grandson
of Hachiun, brother of Chinghiz Khan), whose ordo was contiguous to Nayan’s, on the left bank of the Amur,
hypothetically east of Blagovietschensk, on the spot, where still the traces of an ancient city can be seen. Nayan’s
possessions stretched south to Kwang-ning, which belonged to his appanage, and it was from this town that he had the
title of prince of Kwang-ning (Yuen shi).” (Palladius, l.c. 31.)— H. C.] Kaidu had gained influence
over Nayan, and persuaded him to rise against Kúblái. A number of the other Mongol princes took part with him. Kúblái
was much disquieted at the rumours, and sent his great lieutenant BAYAN to reconnoitre. Bayan was nearly captured, but
escaped to court and reported to his master the great armament that Nayan was preparing. Kúblái succeeded by diplomacy
in detaching some of the princes from the enterprise, and resolved to march in person to the scene of action, whilst
despatching Bayan to the Karakorum frontier to intercept Kaídu. This was in the summer of 1287. What followed will be
found in a subsequent note (ch. iv. note 6). (For Nayan’s descent, see the Genealogical Table in the Appendix (A).)